Independent Review – Department of Immigration and Border Protection
On 15 June 2017, the Minister for Immigration and Border Protection tabled the Australian Citizenship Legislation Amendment (Strengthening the Requirements for Australian Citizenship and Other Measures) Bill in Parliament.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection certified the Final Report of the National Consultation on Citizenship entitled Australian Citizenship – Your Right, Your Responsibility as having undertaken a process and analysis equivalent to a Regulation Impact Statement (RIS).
The Office of Best Practice Regulation does not assess independent reviews certified as RISs. The independent review has been certified at the Deputy Secretary level by the Department. This is compliant with Australian Government RIS requirements. While the RIS is compliant, it was not consistent with best practice (on transparency grounds) as the Bill did not include the RIS in the explanatory memorandum. The explanatory memorandum was tabled as a corrigendum on 14 August 2017, following the second reading debate.
The Department has estimated that the reforms will result in an increase in average regulatory costs of $45.4 million per year. The Office of Best Practice Regulation has agreed to this figure.
Regulatory offsets have not been identified for the minor increase in regulatory costs. However, the Department has advised it is seeking to pursue net reductions in compliance costs and will work with affected stakeholders and across Government to identify regulatory burden reductions where appropriate.